If I was Putin I'd absolutely pay for 100,000 North Korean "volunteers" to fight Ukraine.
Sure, North Korea could never send and supply 100,000 troops in formed units to fight Ukraine:
Climbing Russian casualties and reports suggesting that Russia is now looking to North Korea to aid its flagging troops raised eyebrows this week as some began to question whether Moscow would drag Pyongyang into its war in Ukraine.
Russia expert and former intelligence officer in Russian doctrine and strategy for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Rebekah Koffler, threw cold water on these claims and said they were "implausible." ...
"Putin will never accept — it’s implausible," she said. "Just think about the sheer scale of it."
Apart from the fact that Russia and North Korea have not held joint combat training and Pyongyang hasn’t even seen active combat in decades, the logistics of such an alliance would prove tricky.
But 100,000 "volunteers" to plug into Russian units would be little different than 100,000 other foreigners who can't speak Russian. Why would North Koreans be less welcome than non-ethnic Russians being recruited and Syrians being recruited?
I mean, Russia is scouring its prisons for bodies:
As Russia continues to suffer losses in its invasion of Ukraine, now nearing its sixth month, the Kremlin has refused to announce a full-blown mobilization — a move that could be very unpopular for President Vladimir Putin. That has led instead to a covert recruitment effort that includes using prisoners to make up the manpower shortage.
Cannon fodder needs to do little more than run forward in the direction their officer points.
But the North Korean government can hardly afford to demobilize the army to save the money. Could North Korea really afford to abandon what is a large slave labor force that has young men with military training? Better to have a foe inside the tent peeing out than outside the tent peeing in, as the expression goes.
But what if the North Korean regime assumes that the destruction of their army in a futile war is the objective? What if Kim Jong-Un decides that America and our allies would do him a favor by destroying his army while hoping that the survivors and their relatives blame America?
After their paychecks made out to Kim Jong-Un clear, of course.
Kim gets 100,000 fewer mouths to feed, 100,000 fewer potential rebels, a lovely statue celebrating the dead heroes fighting their enemies, and money.
I wouldn't rule this out.
UPDATE: Friends in need:
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday, promising to expand cooperation between the two countries despite being increasingly ostracized on the world stage.
Not all the 100,000 would even need to be seconded soldiers. North Korea could send tens of thousands of workers--for pay that mostly goes to the North Korean government--to replace Russian subjects sent to war.
Not predicting. But this makes sense.
UPDATE: Be careful what you wish for:
The head of Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region has sent a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for cooperation amid signs the North is considering sending laborers for restoration projects in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.
Every North Korean sent to one of the Donbas puppet regions frees up one resident of those so-called republics to be drafted and sent to the front.
NOTE: My most recent war coverage continues here.
